LONDON—Britain's biggest mortgage lender, Halifax, is repricing its mortgage range amid the ongoing fallout from the credit crunch.
The banking giant plans to cut the cost of some of its deals, while hiking fixed rates for those without a sizeable deposit.
The changes, unveiled in a note sent to mortgage brokers on Wednesday, will come into force on Friday.
"As a major mortgage provider, Halifax continues to focus on delivering good value products and rewarding customers for prudency," said a spokeswoman for Halifax, part of HBOS.
She declined to give further details of the changes, but sources familiar with the situation said rates on a string of deals would come down by an average 0.35 percent, while two fixed rates would rise by 0.10 percentage point.
The move is just the latest in a string of rate changes among Britain's lenders as they vie to navigate liquidity problems and attract less risky customers.
Thousands of mortgage products have been withdrawn from the UK market since the credit crunch took hold. Lenders have scrapped cheap fixed-rate deals, introduced higher-rate products, cut the maximum amount people can borrow in relation to the value of the property and tightened credit criteria.
But, more recently, lenders have lowered some rates as they try to boost competitiveness and increase market share in the face of a crisis that has seen the mortgage market shrink considerably.
Barclays' lending arm, the Woolwich, and Nationwide have raised their fixed rates by up to 0.3 percentage points, while Bradford & Bingley increased its deals by up to 0.55 percent.
However, Alliance & Leicester has brought in lower rates for borrowers with deposits of 25 percent or more, Abbey has trimmed some fixed and flexible mortgage rates, and Royal Bank of Scotland has cut up to 0.30 points off new mortgages.
Melanie Bien, a director of independent mortgage broker Savills Private Finance, said: "This new 60 percent LTV (loan-to-value) band is being increasingly used by lenders, with Woolwich and Abbey also offering preferential rates at this level on some of its products, rewarding those who are regarded by lenders as being lowest risk.
"It is hard on first-time buyers with little or no deposit to put down, however, as they will find that they pay the highest rates."
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